Sparky54 Loc: Central Pennsylvania

Hello Everyone ,
I just bought this Lens , I will be using it on a Nikon D7100. I use it for school sports. Currently Track and Field . I shot around 200 or so shots the other day , from varies positions and distances . As I looked at the pictures on the camera they looked very clear.
I shoot in Total Manual and tried different adjustments . When I uploaded them to Lightroom, they appear to be a little soft , not as sharp as they should have been but not horrible . My question is, do I need to calibrate the camera , the lens ( using the tap and focus control) or did I just get a bad copy ? I have been shooting sports for years but never with this lens .
Has anyone out there used this lens and D7100 ? If so can you give me any real life experienced ideas to help this issue ??
Thank you to all who can give positive helpful feedback .

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Post some of the shots that you think are soft, and be sure to click the store original box. That way we can give a meaningful evaluation.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

Excellent lens, I absolutely love mine. Post some downloadable shots and describe what you are seeing. Could be technique (camera shake), but I'd start by checking your camera settings. I have a D7200, not D7100, so check your manual to see if they are similar. Make sure you are set in AF-C, not AF-S or AF-A. How many focus points are you using? Sometimes, with too many focus points the camera may decide to focus on the closest thing to the lens or on the background instead of your subject. You should be able to see some part of your photo that is sharp - that's where it focused. You need to keep your shutter speed up to 1/750 or more like 1/1000 for sports. How about DOF. Open apertures mean less DOF. Finally, I'd recommend shooting in A or M and setting ISO in auto, say, between 100 and 1600, maybe 3200 depending on you tolerance for noise.

I have 5 Tamron lenses and every one of them needed tuning to one degree or another. The way to check is to take a couple of shots of a resolution target in good light, wide open aperture, tripod, remote release, high shutter speed, in Live View and then in AF-S. Live view will give you the sharpest image the lens and camera are capable of. If the LV and AF shot are the same, you are good to go. If the LV shot is sharper, then you might consider tuning.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Speed, ISO, etc, etc needed

NormanTheGr8 Loc: Racine, Wisconsin

On the back of your camera you are seeing the jpg. Raw files usually need a little tweek

Sparky54 Loc: Central Pennsylvania

Thank you , your advise is very helpful

ggab Loc: ?

SuperFly48 Loc: NE ILLINOIS

While I get it that the Tamron is less expensive than the Nikon version, and for a while I was doing my best to be "frugal" with my gear purchases; I am no longer a fan of Tamron; have had several of their lenses and kept only the 18-270 which was purchased for my D7100. It's now on a D80 and given to my daughter. The pelican shot is heavily cropped, was taken with the Nikon 70-200 on my D7100. The Mexican grey wolf photo, also heavily cropped except it was taken with the 70-200 on a D850. I keep the 70-200 on my D7100 most all the time. I had to sell off some "stuff" to afford the Nikon lens, am happy I made that choice; I do not miss the "stuff" I sold off.

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Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

It's my experience that Nikon glass is closer to being in tune out of the box, but can still benefit from tuning. This is fine for primes as AF fine-tune only allows you one adjustment point, but not so good for zooms. Tamron glass can be further off of tune out of the box, but you can tune it at multiple zoom and distance factors. The 70-200mm G2 allows for 12 different table entries (4 zoom factors at 3 different distances). If you are willing to spend the time, you can really walk that lens in.

IMHO, if you expect your lenses to be in perfect AF focus out of the box, buy only your camera manufacturer's glass. If you are willing to take the time to learn how to tune, and do tune, then you can save yourself some money with Tamron and Sigma glass and get excellent results. There are a couple of caveats. First, some reviewers say they believe (without proof) that Nikon glass focuses faster than 3rd party glass. I understand that Tamron has licensed Nikon's AF software, but Sigma reversed engineered it. Second, for any given lens category, you need to carefully read the reviews because many times 3rd party glass is rated much higher than Nikon glass. For example, take a look at 35mm, 50mm and 85mm primes as well as 24-70mm and 70-200mm glass. On the other hand, no one makes a better 105mm lens than Nikon.

HomerTn

I have shot my kids Rec soccer games and indoor cheer competitions with amazing results with this lens....so good my canon at nearly twice the price doesn’t get out of bag anymore. Yes I did have to calibrate it my 80D but I calibrate all my lens for peak performance even tho it might be straight out of the box.. my camera has been around so calibration is only way to make sure my rig is totally in sync.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

If you are doing sports then FAST ACCURATE AF is a HIGH priority for you ! Therefore, using an OEM lens should also be a priority for you ! Be that as it may, what ever lens you have, you should be doing a focus cal test on it and adjust accordingly - preferably using the Tamron tap-in console.
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bertnie1

What is a "Tamron tap-in console"?

Thanks,

Bertnie

Sparky54 Loc: Central Pennsylvania

It is a adaptor attached to lens and computer to make firmware updates and adjustments to the lens.